Airtricity Players Released

By Phillip Weafer | December 14, 2010.

The woes of the Airtricity League continue as budget constraints for many of the teams has meant that a large number of players have been released from their contracts and will be looking for a new club.

Defending league champions Shamrock Rovers will start next season without six first-team squad players but the spine of the squad will return. Rovers are one of the stronger sides financially, after their success on and off the pitch, with the Tallaght stadium bringing in the crowds regularly.

The struggles of Bohemians have been well covered and the Gypsies will be without five of their best players in recent years. Killian Brennan, Anto Murphy, Mark Rossiter and Jason McGuinness will more than likely have no trouble finding new clubs in Ireland, while Irish under-21 international Conor Powell could attract interest from English club sides, with Reading said to be sniffing around the left-back.

“I don’t know what my next move will be, if I can get a club in England that would be great but I’m happy to go anywhere and try my luck, I just want to stay full time,” said Powell, who won two league titles in his six seasons with Bohs.

“I have seen people go to England from the League of Ireland and play at a high level so maybe I will get the chance to do that. I will take a holiday now, I need a break after the season we had. I didn’t really want to leave Bohs, they were my first club, I was there for a long time and have a lot of happy memories but the way things are with the finances, there was no way they could keep the players on.

Former stalwarts of the league are also looking for new clubs as the financial climate has hit the league. Sporting Fingal has been forced to say goodbye to former heroes of the League Colin Hawkins; Glenn Crowe; Ollie Cahill and Eamon Zayed.

St. Pat’s have been forced to let go of former Nottingham Forest and Ireland under-21 winger Brian Cash as well as Stuart and Paul Byrne respectively.

All in all the PFAI has received notice from over 100 players that they are out of contract and will be seeking employment for next season, including PFAI player of the year Richie Ryan.